


this is not a (war story)

by writerdragonfly



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Class Assignments, Grace-centric, Love Confessions, M/M, Matchmaker Grace, Mostly 3rd Person POV, References to Child Kidnappings, Some written in 1st Person POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-22
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-22 20:43:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4849895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerdragonfly/pseuds/writerdragonfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tell me about something that happened over summer break: I got kidnapped. "<br/>Grace realizes some things after a class assignment. In true Williams fashion, she makes her opinion known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this is not a (war story)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [apinkducky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/apinkducky/gifts).



> I have no idea where this came from. I am just hoping it feels in character.
> 
> My self-assigned prompt was the word of the day for 9/21/2015 on the Merriam-Webster website:  
> "war story."

 

\---

* * *

 

Getting to Know You

Welcome to a new school year! I’m excited to learn more about you.

Please fill out and return this form at the end of class.

 

**Name:** Grace Williams

**Class Period:** 8th

**Favorite Color:** Purple

**Are you in any extracurricular activities?** Cheerleading, Aloha Girls

**Tell me about something that happened over summer break:**

 

I got kidnapped.

 

I know, that sounds crazy. That doesn't happen around here, to people like me.

 

Except it does, and it did.

 

Was it scary? Yes.

 

But it wasn't the first time that's happened to me.

 

If you really want to know me, you need to know this.

 

My dad is a cop. He's a detective. He's been a detective for as long as I remember. And he's good at it.

 

When I was younger, my parents got divorced. My dad's job is dangerous, of course it is.

 

See, my parents got divorced and my mom got custody of me and then she got remarried to my stepfather, Stan, and we moved here to Hawaii.

 

My dad followed us. He gave up everything just to see me a few times a week and got a job with HPD.

 

And then, former Governor Jamison established the Five-0 Task Force, and she put a Navy Lieutenant Commander named Steve in charge. He picked my father as his partner and they've been partners ever since.

 

You need to know this because you need to know one thing. Being a detective in Jersey is sometimes dangerous--being any kind of cop is; being a detective with Five-0 is like that a lot of the time. They go after the bad guys, the worst of the worst.

 

Being a Jersey detective's daughter got me kidnapped about a year or so after we moved here. My dad is a good cop, he does the right thing. Sometimes that makes enemies of people. It was terrifying. I had nightmares about it for a long time. Sometimes I still do.

 

Here in Hawaii, my dad's face is a lot more public than in Jersey--just from the fact of his job. Being a part of Five-0 paints a target on his back even if he's not involved in a case.

 

He doesn't like that it makes it more dangerous for me, but he does it anyway.

 

My dad's a part of Five-0 because he wants to help keep the island safe. He wants it safe for me and my little brother.

 

But I didn't get kidnapped because my dad is a part of Five-0. I know it's something that might happen one day, even though my family hopes it never does.

 

I got kidnapped because a man who used to work with my dad's partner Steve was sick.

 

My dad and Steve have been best friends for years. Steve's like my uncle, you know?

 

But a lot of people like to say that my dad and Steve are like an old married couple. And they're not wrong.

 

The man who kidnapped me thought Steve and my dad were together and he was off his medication. He started thinking the only way to cure Steve of being gay was to break them up by kidnapping me.

 

It didn't work. It never would have.

 

No one expected me to get kidnapped because of Steve, not even my dad. But my dad wasn't mad at Steve, even though other people blamed him. No, my dad knew just as much as Steve knew that they would both do whatever it took to get me back.

 

And they did. See, my dad and Steve weren't dating or married. Actually, both of them had girlfriends at the time. But they're closer to each other than anyone else. I'm one of the two most important people to my dad, so I'm one of the two most important people to Steve. That's just how it is.

 

So I was kidnapped over my summer break. I was gone for sixteen hours. My kidnapper was arrested, I got to go home with my dad and then I spent a few extra weeks with my mom.

 

But I don't blame Steve or my dad.

 

They're both good men, good cops. And what they would do for me? They would do for any kidnapped kid. And they have.

 

So if you want to get to know me, you need to know one thing.

 

My dad and Steve are my heroes.

 

* * *

 

\---

 

 

Grace bit her lip as she walked up to the desk at the front of the room, trying to decide if she should really turn her sheet in. She'd seen her classmates' entries. "I went to the mainland and visited my grandparents in Chicago." "I spent the summer learning to surf." "I went to a camp."

 

But then she thought about everything she'd been through over the years.

 

Maybe her life wasn't as normal and quiet as most of her classmates. Maybe it was true what her mother said--that Danno and Steve attracted trouble like flame attracted moths.

 

But Steve and Danno--they kept the islands safe.

 

People saw the reports on their screens and thought, "well, there goes Five-0 again, shooting up a neighborhood." "That task force is just asking for trouble."

 

But Grace knew how it really was. How Danno and Steve, Chin and Kono and Grover... How they did whatever they could to keep everyone safe.

 

They all fought for something, didn't they?

 

"Miss Williams?"

 

Grace looked up from her paper in surprise, unsure how long she’d been standing in front of her teacher’s desk.

 

“Miss Kuri, can I ask you a question?” Grace asked.

 

“Sure.”

 

“Do you think Five-0 does a good job protecting us?”

 

Miss Kuri looked surprised at the question, “I don’t know that I’m qualified to answer that. I certainly feel safer knowing they’re out there. What’s this about?”

 

“Nothing important. Have a good night, Miss Kuri,” Grace replied, placing her paper into her teacher’s hand.

 

She left the classroom before her teacher could ask anything else.

 

-x-

 

That night, Grace laid awake in bed for a long time, thinking.

 

 

Danno wanted nothing more than for Grace and Charlie to be happy and safe. When he broke up with Melissa, he seemed more persistent than ever that they were the most important people in his life. That no one else could ever measure up to be worth sharing him, sharing them.

 

But Grace thought about what she knew, about Danno and Steve.

 

Someone already shared him, didn’t they?

 

But she wasn’t stupid, she knew that it didn’t mean they loved each other that way, or enough, to make the kind of relationship Grace wanted for her Danno.

 

If anyone could find out, though, surely it would be her, right?

 

-x-

 

Miss Kuri asked her to stay behind after class the next afternoon. Grace wasn’t entirely surprised. There was a reason she hesitated to hand in her paper, after all.

 

“Miss Williams--Grace... is this true?” Miss Kuri asked, sliding Grace’s paper across her desk.

 

“Yeah. I mean I... I don’t usually talk about it, but... I felt like I needed to.”

 

“I’m proud that you had the courage to talk about what happened to you. Your dad and his partner sound like great men.”

 

“Thanks, they are. Everyone at Five-0 are good people, my Danno’s ohana. My ohana.” Grace admitted. She smiled.

 

“Danno?”

 

“My dad. That’s what I’ve always called him.”

 

“Have you talked about what happened with anyone else, Grace?” Miss Kuri asked, and Grace knew it was because she was concerned for her. Grace didn’t blame her.

 

“Yeah. I’ve talked to my therapist, and my family. I’m okay, really.” Grace reassured her, trying to keep her smile as bright as before.

 

“Good. If you ever need to talk, you can come to me anytime, okay? And the counselor’s office is always open too.”

 

“Thanks, Miss Kuri.”

 

Grace was out of the room before her teacher finished saying, “you’re welcome.”

 

-x-

 

Steve picked her up from school, pulling up in her dad’s Camaro like he owned it. It made her smile, seeing him like that.

 

“Hey, Gracie,” Steve said, and Grace liked the way it made her warm inside--just like when Danno called her that.

 

She’d known it would be Steve picking her up today. Danno had texted her during last period to let her know.

 

But it gave her the perfect opening.

 

“Can I ask you a question?”

 

“Go ahead,” Steve answered with one of his wide grins.

 

“Do you love Danno?”

 

He didn’t answer right away, and Grace wasn’t sure why. She could see his hands tighten around the steering wheel, and for a moment she thought that maybe asking him was a bad idea.

 

But then Steve sighed, and pulled her dad’s car over to the side of the road.

 

“Of course I love your dad, he’s my best friend, Grace.”

 

“I know that... But... do you _love_ Danno?” Grace asked again, refusing to look away from Steve’s face.

 

He rubbed a hand over his face, a gesture Grace recognized as a nervous one. She hadn’t seen _Steve_ do it before.

 

“It’s not that simple,” he finally said, looking out the driver’s side window. Grace nodded, though she knew that Steve couldn’t see her do it.

 

She waited until they started moving again to speak up again.

 

“Hey, Steve?”

 

“Yeah, Gracie?”

 

“I love you.”

 

-x-

 

Danno was in comfortable clothes when she and Steve walked in the front door. His hair was still damp from the shower, but he was barefoot and leaning against the counter.

 

“Hey, McGarrett, you wanna stay for pizza?” Danno asked after kissing her on the forehead as she walked past him on her way to put her bag in her room.

 

She couldn’t see it, but she heard Steve’s response. “Not tonight, I’m going to head home.”

 

Her stomach twisted a little, at the thought that she had made him sad.

 

She yelled back a goodbye when Steve said his, unable to make herself face him.

 

She hadn’t meant to hurt anyone.

 

-x-

 

Her dad knocked on the door to her room when the pizza showed up, obviously expecting her to interrupt her homework or texting her friends.

 

But she wasn’t. She was sitting on her bed instead, her arms wrapped around a stuffed shark Steve and Danno had won for her at a carnival a few years ago.

 

“Monkey, what’s wrong?” Danno asked, because of course he noticed.

 

Grace shrugged, not sure how to say it. Not sure if it was a good idea. What if Danno and Steve had already had this talk, and Danno had turned him down?

 

“Is it about this summer, Gracie?” Danno asked, and she vehemently shook her head.

 

“No, I was just... I didn’t mean to upset him.”

 

“Upset who?” her dad asked, sitting beside her on the bed. He pulled her into his arms, gently rubbing her back.

 

“Danno, if I ask you something, will you tell me the truth?”

 

“Of course, monkey.”

 

She took a deep breath before she moved to see her dad’s face.

 

“Do you love Steve?”

 

Of the questions she could have asked, Grace doesn’t think he expected that one in the least.

 

“Do I love... of course I love the idiot, he’s my best--”

 

“But do you _love_ him, Danno?”

 

“Is this about this summer, Grace?”

 

“No! It’s... I know everyone teases you about Steve all the time. I know... what that man did was wrong, and... and I know that you and Steve aren’t like that right now but... _do you love him_?”

 

“Grace, it’s not that--”

 

“Bullshit! Don’t tell me it’s not that easy!”

 

“Language--”

 

“Danno, _please_. Do you love Steve?”

 

Her dad is silent for a long minute, probably more than a little mad because she _swore at him_ , but he’s _silent_.

 

Danno is rarely silent.

 

“Grace, if I thought he still felt that--”

 

“Still?”

 

“You are _not_ old enough for this conversation.”

 

“Dad, you said you’d tell me the truth.”

 

“Well, I was expecting a question about boys or--”

 

“Steve _is_ a boy,” she smiled. Danno sighed.

 

“Look, Steve and I were... together... for a while when I first started at Five-0...”

 

“You were having sex,” Grace said, completely aware that Danno was going to make _that face_ as soon as she did.

 

She was right.

 

“You are never going to repeat that, you got that?” Danno said, grimacing. She mimed zipping her lips.

 

“I broke things off because of your mother, Gracie. And I can’t regret it, because we got Charlie out of it.”

 

“But you didn’t stop loving him, did you?” Grace asked, because she can see it in his face, now that she knows.

 

“I didn’t even know I did until after... after he was arrested. It’s... I can’t just expect him to--”

 

“Danno, we need to go,” Grace interrupted, practically flying off her bed in her hurry.

 

“Grace, what are you--”

 

“Dad, do you love Steve? Are you in love with him?” she asked, standing in her doorway. Her dad stood slowly, watching her.

 

“Yes, but Grace--”

 

“But nothing. Put some shoes on.”

 

“Monkey, I can’t just--”

 

“Maybe you can’t, not on your own. But I’m coming too, because you’re both too stupid to talk about it without me.”

 

-x-

 

Grace pounded on Steve’s door, a little excited and more than a little afraid.

 

This could ruin everything Danno and Steve have built over the years, could break their little ohana. Could make Five-0 tumble to pieces.

 

But, she had to try, didn't she?

 

He was obviously surprised to see them there. Grace thought the fact that they were actually knocking might be a part of it.

 

“What... what are you doing here?” Steve asked. Grace pushed her way inside with all the usual Williams aplomb. Her dad followed, a little more sedately.

 

“Steve... are you in love with my dad?” Grace asked as soon as the door closed. Steve and Danno both froze where they stood.

 

“Grace, I told you it was--”

 

“You both need to stop saying that! Do you love him, yes or no?” She was nearly screaming it at the end, she couldn’t seem to help it.

 

“I... yes, but Grace--”

 

“You do?” Danno interrupted, and his voice sounded funny. She didn’t know how to describe it.

 

“Danno, do you love Steve back?”

 

“Grace...” She’s not even sure which of them says it, so lightly it might’ve been a whisper.

 

“Look, this is not a war story. It’s a love story, and you both deserve a happy ending. So make one already.”

 

They both looked at her then, affectionate and open and real.

 

“Just kiss already, before Danno remembers that I swore at him.” Grace said cheekily.

 

Danno pulled her into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. She could feel Steve do the same. When they released her, she went over to the couch and sat down, watching them.

“I do, Steve. I’m sorry I never... I love you.”

 

Grace smiled.

 

-x-

 

At the end of the semester, Grace wrote a paper for Miss Kuri’s eighth period Creative Writing class.

 

this is not a (war story) by Grace Williams


End file.
